1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to improvements in mobile equipment used in the construction industry and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to mobile equipment for producing batches of concrete from cement and aggregate.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
When concrete is used in construction at an out-of-the-way site, it is often advantageous to temporarily erect a concrete batch plant in the vicinity of the construction site to provide batches of cement, aggregate and water to concrete mixing trucks that are then required to travel only a short distance between the construction site and the batch plant. Once the construction project for which the batch plant is erected has been completed, the batch plant can be dismantled and moved to a new site to be again erected to provide concrete for a new construction project. A variety of types of concrete batch plants designed to be used in this manner are known in the prior art.
While the use of mobile concrete batch plants has proved to be a useful technique in the construction industry, problems have existed with their use. In particular, it has been necessary in the past to make compromises between various desirable characteristics of these plants. For example, transportability of a concrete batch plant can be enhanced by making the plant in several parts which are transported separately but such construction of the batch plant often requires the use of heavy machinery to erect the batch plant once it has reached its destination. Additionally, a great deal of time and inconvenience can be involved in the erection of a batch plant that is transported in several parts. Alternatively, a batch plant can be transported in essentially the configuration in which it will be positioned during use to minimize the time of erection and the use of heavy machinery to accomplish the erection, but such alternative results in transportation difficulties because of the large bulk of a concrete batch plant. This problem is especially severe where the batch plant is to have a high production rate. As a result, it has been necessary in the past to sacrifice some desirable characteristics of a concrete batch plant in order to enhance other characteristics which the plant designer deems to be more important.